Teams & Talents
by TurquoiseDecember
Summary: Ruby and her team have gotten older and the next class has come to Beacon.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

I couldn't believe I was finally going to be at Beacon Academy. I had worked so hard these last four and a half years, and now it was finally going to pay off. I was eager to touch my feet on the near–white stone that led up to the front doors of the Academy. When the airship did finally touch down, I couldn't wait to get inside; however, I was also nervous since I was starting later than most people did, as I was 19 already. I knew with Riley by my side though, things would turn out all right.

Getting out of the airship I couldn't help but be awed by the sight in front of me; the vast courtyards, the elaborate arches and gates, even the Academy itself. I had read about it when I had been studying to attend, but the descriptions and the reality were two totally different things. I could barely keep my mouth shut at the sight.

"Wo–ow." I uttered, then, embarrassed, quickly clamped a hand over my mouth.

Hopefully nobody had heard me.

I wasn't that lucky though. Another girl, with dark hair and a cloak, probably only two or three years older than me appeared next to me.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" She chirped in my ear.

"Uh, yeah. It's amazing."

I really just wanted to leave right then, but then I caught her eyes, and looked at her cloak again. Red. This was–

"I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose. Leader of Team RWBY. Pleasure to meet you."

Yes, Ruby Rose. As in, Ruby Rose the wielder of Crescent Rose.

"Hi!" I practically yelled in her face. "I'm, uh… My name's Alynna. Alynna Blythe. You're… Well, you're kind of my idol."

She gave me a puzzled stare.

"See?" I unclipped Riley from her holster on my back and spun her out. "I'm a scythe wielder too. This is Reaper's Light, or 'Riley'."

"Dual-scythe. Nice." Ruby complimented. "If you know me then you surely know Crescent Rose."

With that, the gun on her back extended into the equivalent of Riley in scythe form, only without the second blade.

"Ruby!" A whiny-sounding voice called out from somewhere several yards away from where we were standing.

"Just a minute, Weiss!" Ruby called back. "Sorry, duty calls. See you in the ring!"

I watched my idol run off to meet her team. The one who had called her was the wielder of a Dust Rapier, which for anyone else would be expensive, but since her family owned Dust mines, she could get away with it. The blonde who was waiting by Weiss' side was Ruby's sister, Yang Xiao Long. Her weapon was a pair of gun gauntlets. Easy to equip and keep close, but can attack from a distance, perfect for her. Then, of course, there was Blake. She was a Faunus, but a skilled fighter if I ever saw one. I watched the group walk toward the school together, amazed I had already met my idol, and seen her team, before even setting foot in the academy itself.

This was going to be a great year regardless of the team I got.

Inside, I couldn't help but be amazed at how many students there were here. I had always thought Beacon was a lot more prestigious, and it was, I was sure. I guess a lot of people were coming back too, maybe that was it. Maybe I'd find out a little more once I got my team.

I stood by the doorway of the large gathering hall, waiting with Riley on my back for the big welcome announcement to happen. I watched some of the other students, and stared at their weapons, trying to see what I could find out about them from them. I had always been told the partner someone chose to fight with could tell you more about him or her than the person could. This, oddly enough, was how I chose a lot of my friends in training school.

I was engrossed in one particular weapon, one that didn't really look like anything more than a relatively cool pair of gloves, when I started to trip down the steps.

"Hey!" I shouted at the person who had pushed me. I was pretty sure it had been unintentional, but still rude.

Luckily another student, a girl with long silver–white hair, caught me before I face planted on the tile.

"I'm so sorry! I was… pushed, I think." I said sheepishly.

"No worries." The silver–haired girl said kindly. "I'm Nina. I'm a freshman here. Who are you?"

"It's Alynna. Alynna Blythe." I smiled. "I'm a freshman here too. Though, sort of a late one at that… I'm nineteen."

"Oh, well, if you're at Beacon you must be able to fight."

"Yeah, well, I mean, I think I'm pretty good." I half mumbled, half whispered.

"You're gonna have to be more confident in yourself than that if you want to compete here."

"Right, thanks for the advice."

With that, she turned around and left, barely giving me a second glance as she merged with the rest of the crowd.

I leaned against the wall where Nina had caught me after I had been pushed off the steps, silently questioning why I had come here. The teammates I would have would most likely all be younger than me, but I couldn't change the fact that I couldn't get in the year before. As hard as I had tried. I started to feel tears well up in my eyes, but then I was quickly pulled up from my place on the floor by a strong hand.

"You're stronger than this." A boy's voice said.

I didn't want to look up in case I lost control of the emotion I felt rising.

"But what if I'm not?" I mumbled.

"Suck it up." The voice was farther away now. Blending in with numerous other voices I didn't know.

"You don't–" When I looked up I was alone. "Know anything about me."

First my encounter with Nina, then a random guy voice.

"An interesting start." I thought. "Hopefully the rest of the year will be better than this."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The year had gotten off to an odd start, but I didn't think too much of it since the team trials were coming up. We would all be on our own, but we would get to be in a team with the first person we encountered, and two others, depending on if the trial was similar to what I had heard about Ruby's team. I remembered from all my research about attending the Academy, and from all of the articles I had read about Ruby and her teammates, that it was vital to be with someone you could understand, and would be willing to work with you when things got rough.

I could only hope.

The newest class gathered at the launch site. There were a lot of students I didn't recognize, but that didn't mean I wouldn't get to know them. I did see Nina though; she was on the opposite side of the line from myself. Part of me wanted to find her, she seemed strong, and now that I could get a good look at her weapon, well, let's just say I knew there was a lot more to her than met the eye. And with that kind of mystery, usually there was power behind it. The girl immediately next to me was wearing the cool gloves I had seen the day before, as all the new and returning students were waiting for the introductory announcement. A few ideas of what they could be went through my mind, but I guessed I would find out sooner or later. On her other side, there was a boy; one with dark hair, and a long, spear–like weapon on his back.

"What's his story?" I thought. "He looks older than the other kids in this class, I mean, I'm older too, but not by a lot."

I shook the thought out my mind and refocused my attention on what was to come.

"Ready?" The Academy's director said as he raised a hand. "Launch!"

And we were off; soaring high into the sky. I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little afraid, but I caught sight of a branch that looked sturdy enough for Riley to grab on to. Her lower scythe hooked onto the branch just as I was about to miss it, and I was able to quickly swing my self down the succeeding branches to the forest floor.

"Now that that's over, I just gotta find someone else." I sighed; I was happy with my landing, but these woods were known for the Grimm that made them their home, if 'home' was the right word for the places where Grimm roamed. I switched Riley into her bow form and started walking in the direction of where I had thought I heard someone land. Hopefully I would be right, and it wouldn't be an Ursa or a Nevermore. As confident as I was in my abilities, well, I would be more comfortable with someone helping me out.

Nearly half an hour had passed and I had yet to find anyone, and maybe that was normal, but it was boring. If I couldn't find a partner, I would have at least liked to battle something.

"Oh…" I took a seat, leaning against a tree, and lay Riley across my legs. If I was going to rest, I would at least keep her nearby in case of emergency.

I thought of home while I rested; what my little sisters would be doing, how my Mom was doing, if Dad was keeping it all together. I knew I couldn't afford to worry about them for long, but I couldn't help missing them.

"They're fine, Alynna. Just… Focus." I murmured to myself aloud.

"SKRAWWWW!"

I jumped up from my resting spot and easily found the source of the roar; a Nevermore.

"Why did it have to be something with wings?" I groaned. "Well, I guess it's as good a time as any to break in Riley."

With Riley set in her ranged–attack form, I had a pretty good chance of at least damaging the dark bird. I knew I had to watch out for the claws and keep an eye on its wings, in case it decided to go for its feather spears. And, I was alone, so there was that factor too.

I took my stance, and was ready to fire an arrow into the only vulnerable part I could see. Before I could even start to draw my arrow back though, a gunshot fired and went clear through the Nevermore's neck. As the monstrous bird, who seemed as surprised as I was, tried to recover, the boy with dark hair from the launch line appeared in front of me with his axe–spear… gun, and took another shot at the bird. This time, it wasn't a standard bullet shot though, it looked like it was the tip of a sword being launched from the gun's long barrel.

The bird fell fast after the shot landed in its wing.

"That only paralyzed it temporarily, we need to run."

"Okay…but, how–" He disappeared back into the woods before I could finish the question; which just annoyed me.

When I caught up to him, in a small clearing a few miles from where I had encountered the Nevermore, he was perched on a tree limb.

"What's the big idea?" I yelled up at him. "You don't just… save a girl… and the go running off."

"So, you admit I saved you?"

"I could have handled it myself. But it was nice that you were there anyway."

"Right."

Then it hit me. He had the same voice as the one I had heard after talking to Nina at the welcome the day before.

"So… I'm Alynna… Blythe." I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Renley. Just call me Ren though."

"You're weapon, is, different. Not something I've seen before."

"It's a shotgun–pike. Or, shot–pike, as I call it." He explained.

It was like he had told a lot of other people this before. It sounded so rehearsed.

"It looks like we're partners. Since, you were alone, when you came and helped me before."

"It looks that way."

Well, Renley didn't seem all too thrilled about our partnership. I guess not everyone is so open to being friends as others though. One thing I knew though, he knew what he was doing when it came to fighting Grimm, and that was valuable. The rest, well, we would see in time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

I couldn't tell if Renley was going to warm up to me any time soon. I wanted him to, but we had been walking for what seemed like days without so much as a "What do you like to do?" type of question passing through the stagnant air between us.

I sighed, "Lucky me," I thought, "I had to find the one person who won't talk to his partner."

Renley stopped quickly and I almost walked right into him. He seemed to be staring intently at something and I couldn't see what it was, but I waited for him to say something about it. He flipped his shotgun back into a pike, and for a moment I thought I saw it glow red, but I guessed it must have been the light hitting the metal at a weird angle.

"Let's go." Renley said as he took of running toward whatever it was that had drawn his attention before.

I followed him to an area full of dead trees and trampled grass. There were two girls fighting off a King Tajitu a few hundred yards away. They seemed to be doing pretty well on their own, but Renley had proven he knew his stuff when he helped me out with the Nevermore; so, when he ran toward the battle scene without so much as a flinch of hesitation, I didn't question him or try to stop him. I just followed him, Riley ready for action.

I passed Renley as I approached the scene. He gave me a look like "I don't need you, but do what you can." I chose to ignore it, as I was going to be fighting more for the other two girls than for him. I remembered from training school, that King Tajitu's had hard skulls, and fangs that were capable of cutting through a human torso, even with armor. Riley's arrows wouldn't do much, and I couldn't get close to the snake without putting myself in danger.

As I was still a relatively safe distance from the snake, I watched the other girls for a little while. I realized one, the silver–haired girl, was Nina from the day before at the welcome. The other, I remembered seeing her, but I didn't know her name. Nina's weapon was one that I found interesting; it was a shield, but it looked bladed. Then she seemed to jump, but it was actually her weapon that was lifting her into the air. I realized then, her weapon was a fuma shuriken. That was something I didn't see too often. But, I did know that really good ones could be expensive. Nina did give off the "rich girl" vibe though.

The other girl wasn't as easy to figure out. It seemed she didn't have any weapon at all, and I almost lunged in to protect her when claws appeared on her knuckles from nowhere, and she swung herself onto the top of the black head of the King Tajitu.

This girl was riding a King Tajitu's head.

Now I had to join in.

"Bring it down here!" I called to the red–haired girl on the snake's head.

"I'll do my best!" She called back. "By the way, I'm Shasa!"

"Alynna! I don't think now's a good time for introductions though!"

Shasa had her right hand's claws dug into the base of the snake's black head. It writhed and tried as hard as it could to throw her off, but she didn't seem to be going anywhere. Once she gained control, she aimed the black head toward its partner and somehow managed to make it bite off part of the skull armor.

"Well, maybe she's got this." I thought.

I guess I was a little too quick to think, because the armored head charged at her in an attempt to knock her off, and I was worried she was going to fall off. She just barely dodged the attack though; and now, it was headed straight toward me.

I sidestepped the attack in time, and the snake's head crashed into the dirt. I couldn't see a thing in the dust that had resulted from the impact. And then I was suddenly outside my self, I was high above the dust cloud and… wait, was that me? I watched my self take advantage of the opportunity of the dazed snake, and hooked one of Riley's scythes around it's exposed neck and switch her into bow form to take a stronger hold of the snake just as it came to and, upon realizing it had company, try to throw me off.

"Hold on," I thought. And I did, I was holding on to Riley with as much strength as I could muster, and it appeared that I had a lot.

The dust was starting to clear around me, and it was thanks to Nina. She was blowing it away with a wind generated by the spinning of her own weapon.

"Thanks, Nina."

"No problem!" She called back to me.

Oh, I was… back in my body? Okay, that was weird. I would have o figure out what happened, but that was for after we took care of the King Tajitu.

An explosion erupted from below where Shasa was still holding onto the black head and that seemed to hurt, or scare, the snake enough to give it enough force that Shasa went flying off the back of the snake's head. A few shots were fired from near where she was and I caught a glance of her hanging from the trunk of a tree. At least she was safe; as safe as someone could be with a King Tajitu one hundred feet away anyway.

Nina and I tag teamed the other head of the snake. She whirled her shuriken and whipped up a wind and I saw how this action made a sort of shield in front of her. The armored head was harder to control, but I managed to aim it into the wind Nina generated and pulled back with all the force I could muster, slicing through the neck of the snake.


End file.
